The 10 Best Waterproof Mascaras to Buy in 2026

You leave the house feeling incredible because your makeup is on point when suddenly, tragedy strikes. Maybe you work up a sweat trying to make it to the bus, or there’s an unexpected rainstorm… either way, the consequences are the same. The mascara you painstakingly applied smudges under your eyes, making you look like a hot mess (as the kids like to say), and rendering all of your hard work useless. Maybe it’s time to buy waterproof mascara.

What You Need to Know About Waterproof Mascara

Before we dive deep into recommendations (with a coat of waterproof mascara on our lashes, of course) there are a few things we need to cover.

Is It Better to Get Waterproof Mascara?

Almost every makeup-wearer will face situations that call for a mascara that will stay put in the face of a watery assault.

For some, it’s a daily need, like if you get teary-eyed during allergy season or if you cycle to work every morning. For others, it’s only occasional: you’ll want waterproof mascara when the forecast calls for rain or before an Instagrammable day at the beach.

Waterproof mascaras are not necessarily better than regular ones, but they do have an important place in every makeup collection.

Is Waterproof Mascara Really Waterproof?

If a mascara claims to be waterproof, it should be 100% waterproof. You should be able to wear it to the pool or gym without any fear.

When making our selection, we verified how each mascara held up when dunked into water. Almost all of the options on our list passed the water test with flying colors, but we’ll let you know about the exceptions that we still decided to recommend for other specific reasons.

Features to Consider

There are some features that almost every waterproof mascara should have, while others depend on your needs. Do you need to lengthen short lashes? To curl straight ones? If you’re not sure about your lash type, we’ve got you covered with a handy guide.

Here, we go through the major effects a waterproof mascara can give and help you figure out which will be right for you. We go into even more detail about these features later on.

Long-Wearing

Longevity is a non-negotiable feature for waterproof mascara, so we focused on selecting ones that look amazing all day. There is still room for variety: some mascaras are less long-wearing but easier to remove, while others can hold up against anything but are tough to take off. We’ll let you know exactly how each mascara fares in our reviews.

Volumizing

A volumizing mascara helps to build up eyelash thickness by coating each lash. It makes them look fuller and more dramatic – Bambi in the best-case scenario or a tarantula in the worst-case scenario.

It’s the effect to look for if you have sparse lashes or if you just love drama. If you prefer a subtle makeup look, you’ll want a mascara that gives minimal volume. We’ll let you know exactly how much volume each mascara provides.

Length

This one is self-explanatory. Almost all mascaras are designed to add length to the lashes since it’s a feature almost everyone wants! The exception is glasses-wearers and those with naturally long lashes, who may not want intense length. We’ll let you know what to expect in each review.

Curl

If your lashes are straight or downturned, you’ll want a mascara that can lift them and keep a curl in place. Waterproof mascaras usually do a better job of holding a curl, so you’re safe with most options. However, the texture and wand shape will also have an impact, so we’ll let you know when a mascara truly excels at curling.

Separation

We love the look of fanned out lashes, so we appreciate a good separating mascara. The main benefit of separating mascaras is that they keep the lashes from clumping together and looking spidery.

However, separating mascaras are often less volumizing and vice versa, so you might have to prioritize one feature over the other. We’ll let you know how much separation AND volume each mascara offers so you can find the right balance.

Easy to Remove

Waterproof mascaras are notoriously difficult to remove. That’s the point, though – the easier a mascara is to take off, the likelier that it’ll smudge when you least expect. However, if you have sensitive skin, scrubbing harshly around the eyes can be irritating, not to mention that you can lose precious eyelashes.

We included some easy-to-remove options, but if you still end up with a persistent mascara, try our gentle removal technique, which gets rid of every last speck without irritating.

Other Considerations

Some preferences are subjective. Would you like a colorful tube of mascara or do you prefer slick packaging? Would you prefer a brown mascara over a black one? Are you committed to only buying vegan or cruelty-free? We’ll point out these details and anything else that makes each mascara unique.

Now that you know what to expect out of an amazing waterproof mascara, here are our favorites for every need.